| torok said: Ronaldinho really lost steam quickly. He wasted his tallent because he lacks discipline. I think he remembers me of Adriano's fall from grace. The only reason he didn't did it as fast as Adriano it's because his brother is his agent and kept him a bit more focused. You got a point here that favors Messi hugely. Also, 2002 was more a win for Ronaldo and Rivaldo than Ronaldinho. About consistency again, Zidane only shined in a big matches, he tended to mediocrity most of the year. I would agree to put Messi above Ronaldinho, but C. Ronaldo behind both and still ahead of Zidane. Xavi an Iniesta were great and won the WC, but it was more a team effort than their individual stars. They are more like a damn great combination that any team would want, but individually I think they are outshined by some guys. I think that we can have players that didn't won the cup in a all-time great rank. Puskas and Di Stéfano are two of them. But all these guys cannot be considered as good as the top 3 or 5 guys without a WC, specially when we have guys like Pelé who won it 3 times (ok, 1 of them was Garrincha's). Looking at prospects, I believe that Neymar will be the top player as Messi and C. Ronaldo get older. But if he doesn't win a cup, it will never be a top guy and he has a smaller chance to achieve that than Messi or C. Ronaldo for sure. |
In defence of Ronaldinho he triggered a new era of football that set the path for players like C.Ronaldo, Neymar and Messi, he started the phase of incorporating unorthadorx skills into play and thinking where as before it was mainly traditional flicks and ball control.
As for great players who never won a tournament (not as good as the legends but still great) you'll be here forever on that one as the are too many from Michael Laudrup, Gascoigne, Zico, Bergkamp, Best, Nedved, Platini (yes I know he's a prat), Matthews, Hagi etc...
